Meesters Multi MediaThe pink pelican was previously spotted in Helvoirt

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Broadcasting Brabant

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 10:03

A pink pelican was captured in Cromvoirt yesterday and had been flying around the area for several days. The bird appeared to have escaped from a Belgian zoo two weeks ago. “They were really, really surprised that he was found here.”

The brightly colored pelican has attracted a lot of attention in Brabant in recent days. The animal became spotted earlier in Helvoirt. Last Saturday the pelican showed up at a golf course in Cromvoirt. Golf course employees discovered the bird along the waterfront and called the animal ambulance.

The Den Bosch animal ambulance had been watching the bird for some time and had already made several attempts to catch the animal. Because the pelican is ringed, it must have an owner, but it was not clear who. The animal ambulance had approached several zoos in the Netherlands, but no one appeared to be missing a pelican.

Golden tip

Ultimately, the animal ambulance received the golden tip from a bird breeder and animal care teacher. “He has access to a file of all animal parks in Europe and that’s how he found out,” Pascalle van der Ven, coordinator of the Den Bosch animal ambulance, explains. Broadcasting Brabant.

The data on the ring showed that the pelican hatched from the egg in Lithuania and previously lived in two Dutch zoos. The bird had recently moved to Belgium. There, a zoo appeared to have missed the pelican for a while.

Van der Ven does not want to say which zoo the pelican had escaped from. “But I can say it was quite a flight for the pelican.”

‘Tired and hungry, but healthy’

Various attempts to catch the pelican failed, but in the end, according to Van der Ven, the pelican could be caught quite simply: the bird was lured with a bucket of fish. “The pelican came over quickly and was really hungry.” An employee of the Beekse Bergen safari park was then able to pick up the bird without difficulty. The pelican is currently staying at the safari park.

The captured pelican turns out to be a male and is eleven years old, they now know at the animal ambulance. “We had to train ourselves a bit, because something like this is really very special.” According to Van der Ven, the bird is “tired and hungry, but healthy”. The pelican will soon be collected by the Belgian zoo.

Pink pelicans are found in much of southeastern Europe, Africa, western and central Asia and India. They can grow up to 178 centimeters in length and their wing span can be up to 3.60 meters. They are rarely seen in the Netherlands.

2024-02-13 09:03:12


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